Abstract: According to the special spatial distribution feature of the road network, and the different hierarchical feature of the road segments in the road network, a hierarchal route planning algorithm with the restricted search area is proposed. Compared with the reference 2, our algorithm adds the use of the special spatial distribution feature of the road network, and introduces a search mechanism for restricting the search area. Combining with its practical application in real-time vehicle navigation system, one of its examples is given, and its validity is obtained by an analysis to the experimental results.